Google is muscling even deeper into Amazon’s retail turf with a plan to add “buy” buttons to some of its mobile search results that take netizens directly to a new purchase page.

The move is the latest sign of Google’s ambitions to expand its presence as a shopping portal, rather than just a place to search for links to Amazon and eBay.com. The plan could also help Google to dislodge Amazon as the automatic “go-to website” for all things retail, as all a consumer needs to do is type in what they’re looking for on Google and see the product they’re looking for pop up right there.

The Wall Street Journal, which was apparently briefed on the plan by Google, said we can expect to see “buy” buttons pop up on mobile in the next few weeks. The buttons will appear under a new “Shop on Google” option that’s set to appear at the top of the results page when users search for products. Clicking on that button will take users to a “Google product page” from where they can purchase items directly from Google’s retail partners. Those retailers will then have to stump up a little more for each ad that’s clicked on that results in a sale, rather than paying Google directly.

The WSJ adds that “buy” buttons will only show up next to sponsored results on Google, rather than organic search results.

Not everyone will see the new feature straight away however. For now, google is planning to introduce buttons on a “selected amount of traffic,” which we assume means that Google wants to test the feature more thoroughly before implementing it across the wider Web.

SiliconANGLE waits with interest to see if Google will be daring enough to roll out the new feature in Europe, where it was hit with a “Statement of Objections” last month over its apparent abuse of its search market dominance. One of the complaints lodged by EU anti-trust officials is that Google favors its own shopping results ahead of competitors like Amazon and eBay where relevant. Nevertheless, Google argues that its shopping results don’t harm the competition due to the strong reputation of its rivals.

The move comes just weeks after Google launched a new feature that lets US netizens order fast food directly from its search page, thanks to a partnership with six companies including MyPizza.com and GrubHub Inc.

Image credit: geralt via Pixabay.com